Oshawa’s information technology department is being ordered to search councillors’ emails to find the source of a leaked message that referenced the dismissal of a city employee.

The original email, sent by city manager Bob Duignan to Oshawa’s 11 council members and two staffers on May 2, admonished councillors to keep quiet about the termination of a member of the real estate department.

It found its way out of city hall and was circulated on social media, according to a motion authorizing the IT department to find the leak.

“Somehow the contents of that email have been disclosed to a member of the public and shared by that member of the public,” said Councillor Roger Bouma, who moved the motion at corporate services committee.

The motion said the disclosure of personal information about an identifiable individual could be a breach of that person’s privacy and put the city in legal peril. Bouma said IT will trace that email, not cruise through council’s entire inboxes.

But critics call it an attempt to silence opposition on Oshawa’s fractious council, which has butted heads over a series of contentious issues, including a controversial land deal and plans — later dropped — to sue the organizer of a motorcycle rally for veterans.

The motion, passed on a 4-2 vote, authorizes the city’s director of IT to “use whatever tools are at his disposal to determine if any persons who were included in the original circulation of this email subsequently forwarded, copied, or blind copied this email . . . to any email address or addresses not included in the original circulation.”

Councillor Bruce Wood, who sits on the committee, called the move an “outrage” that contributes to “a chill put over this council.”

“There was not one shred of evidence to justify taking this kind of action to usurp our rights as councillors for privacy with our constituents,” said Wood, who voted against the motion. “It’s just a mean-spirited, wild, rush-to-judgment kind of reaction that is not going to fly in the court of the public opinion.”

Regional Councillor John Neal said he’s never heard of an investigation into a leaked record in his 13 years on council.

“If they’re running around trying to find out who’s sending emails then I’ll have to remind them again that the issues that are top-of-mind to the people are taxes and our local economy,” said Neal. “Once you start pointing the fingers, you know what happens there, it all goes down hill.”

Nancy Diamond, regional councillor and committee chair, voted in favour of the motion, calling it a matter of “trust and confidentiality.”

“It was just totally inappropriate to do it,” said Diamond. “It’s a serious situation where members of council cannot be trusted to maintain personal confidential information without spreading it around.”

Diamond said she wants to know who handed out the email and have them explain themselves. IT will return its findings to the city solicitor to report back to committee.

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